When the name of the game is really important

[JpGames]

Why monkey island is so popular? I guess because the history is not than original, but have enough humor to make all the episodes nice to play.

Anyway, i believe the best adventure game i ever played is The Dig (lucasarts). Why? It had a really GREAT history, wonderful graphics and for what i know, the original idea was writed for make a movie. No other game, book or movie i been saw have a scifi history like this game.

We (JpGames) have a very very nice history to create our first serious game (the one we are creating now is just to test and learn). The unedited (yet) book won 2 awards in amateur contests last year, and yet better, was writed for one of us. The title is "Future" but we are thinking to use anothe title for the game.

Almost Gods
Beyond mankind
Past & Tomorrow

I know is difficult for you all to chosse wich could be better for the history since do you not read the book, but which one do you thinks sounds better? Something like which one sound more "commercial"?

Thanks for any sugerence.

JpGames.

PS If anyone want read the book (143 pages) just let me know and i will send you the PDF. Its in spanish and also is copyrighted.

[m0ds]

Hello there, good to hear you're basing a game on a book. Personally though, I like the name "Future", all the other titles sound really cheesy. Almost Gods & Beyond Mankind especially, and Past & Tomorrow just sounds like bad grammar to me. So I'd vote that you stick to "Future", sounds much more mysterious. To me, Future sounds the most interesting commercial name, too. Best of luck

[ManicMatt]

Agreed.

[Ali]

I think some of the best names have this characteristic: They are striking and memorable, even if you don't know what they refer to. 'The Silence of the Lambs' is a good example of that.

If you're creating a shoot 'em up, all you need to do is combine two or three words that don't really relate to one another: 'Metal Gear Solid', 'Resident Evil', 'Dark Lemon Wasp' and so on.

[Sektor 13]

Beyond mankind   sound best for me, don't know why, but it's cool title.

[Andail]

If it's supposed to be a 'serious' game, avoid overly dramatic and pompous titles like those. "Beyond Humanity" just sounds pretentious, not to mention "Almost Gods". If you are gonna deal with big and serious issues, a down-to-earth title could make a nice contrast. Interestingly, many titles which are typically considered successful in terms of attracting an audience and raise expectations, are difficult to interpret, and may require special insight to understand. Many are enigmatic, or downright nonsensical.
I don't think "Future" is very good, as it's way too generic and doesn't awake any real curiousity. Typically, when a title is based on a common lexical item like that, it's warped or altered a bit, just to make people stop and reflect for a bit. 
Compare:
Metal - Metallica
Anime - Animatrix
Future - Futurama

Including too many 'epic'-sounding words will just make it appear corny, and people will take it for some sort of Manga-episode, like "Fist of the North Star".

[ManicMatt]

"Beyond good and evil" - Cheesy name, a flop of a game. (A good game, but still)

"Half life 2" - Weird name, popular title.

"Okami" - Commonly mispronounced game that nobody knows about despte getting rave reviews everywhere.

Just a thought.

[Andail]

"Half life 2" - Weird name, popular title.

In a pure name-perspective, I think "half life" is very catchy. It's both a physical term and something that could pass as a description of a shortened lifetime. Or something like that. Not weird compared to many other names, anyway.

Some of my favourite game-titles (nevermind the quality of the games per see):

Loom
Fallout
Silent Hill
The Pandora Directive
Gladius
Phantasmagoria

Some examples of bad titles:

Deus Ex (don't know, just don't like it. The latin sounds pretentious)
Planescape: Torment (the words don't read out well together)
Heroes of might and magic (just dorky)
Final Fantasy (extremely corny title)
The longest journey (try to make it just a bit more bittersweet, can you?)

Good AGS-titles:
The Night of the Hermit
Byzantine
Permanent Daylight (nice flow; the dactyl followed by the trochee)
The Trials of Odysseus Kent
The Book of Spells

And far too many bad AGS-titles...(although not at the same time bad games!)

[TheJBurger]

The only rule I can think of when naming titles is avoid generic, overused words.
EXAMPLES:
Quest, Night, Black, Shadow, Dark, Evil, Kingdom, Land, Lost, Legendary, Epic, Ancient, Legend, War, Battle, Prophecy, etc.
"Quest for the Ancient Shadow Kingdom." 
To me, when a name has the same, generic words that have been repeated over and over, it just sounds boring. I like more specific and interesting titles that could have alternate meanings.

Some of my favorite game-titles (off the top of my head):
(Commercial)
Half-Life
Grim Fandango
Secret of Monkey Island and...
Command & Conquer
Halo


(AGS)
5 Days a Stranger
TilTOR and...
Da New Guys
Automation

[ManicMatt]

Yeah I didnt explain myself, I was just naming things for the sake of it.

I like the name "Half-life", but it is like, kinda weird as it's not a word, is all!

Here's another game: "Anachronox" Who the hell is gonna remember that? What does it mean?

Deus Ex is my fave games maybe, ever, but I still forget how to pronounce the bloody thing. Hard to pronounce titles: Bad idea.

Turns out, after being so damn careful with my own game name, someone else is making a game by the same name. So "limbo" is probably a good name, then! A big name developer is making it, some platformer. I'm keeping my name dammit! I carefully combed the net (via google) when I used the name in the first place! Don't you dare copyright it argh!!

[nihilyst]

You could name it "Lim-boo!", if it's scary in some way ^^

Good titles:

Command & Conquer - simple and quite self-explanatory
Far Cry

[LimpingFish]

I like the name "Half-life", but it is like, kinda weird as it's not a word, is all!

Half-life

–noun, plural -lives

1. Physics. the time required for one half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate.

2. Pharmacology. the time required for the activity of a substance taken into the body to lose one half its initial effectiveness.

3. Informal. a brief period during which something flourishes before dying out.

Also, half life, halflife.
Also called half-life period.

[Origin: 1905–10]

Oh, it's a word alright. I also quite like it as a title.

And speaking of clashing game titles...

[Kweepa]

I like the name "Half-life", but it is like, kinda weird as it's not a word, is all!
Here's another game: "Anachronox" Who the hell is gonna remember that? What does it mean?
Deus Ex is my fave games maybe, ever, but I still forget how to pronounce the bloody thing. Hard to pronounce titles: Bad idea.

Wow, what happened to the British education system?
Half-life: a common measure for radioactive material - it lets you calculate when it's going to be "safe" (to be near, if not to eat). Given how much nuclear waste the UK is importing and burying, you should know what this means.
Anachronox: A mix of anachronism (out of time) and nox (poison), probably referring to the planet Anachronox in the game.
Deus Ex (Day-oos X): Part of the Latin phrase "Deus Ex Machina" (god from the machine), so meaning "god from...X?" Could be the main character JC developing, or the other groups in the game attempting to achieve god-like powers. [EDIT] I don't much like the title since it's incomplete.

[EDIT] Far Cry doesn't work as a title for me. The expression "a far cry from" just doesn't sound epic.

[nihilyst]

@Steve: Since I'm from Germany, certain titles probably sound different to me than to English native speakers. Translated into German, Far Cry doesn't sound too good either ^^

[Steel Drummer]

The title Far Cry would work good for a comedy game..

[InCreator]

I've always imagined Far Cry to be a name of a comical adventure game where protagonist is locked into toilet and no-one's around to open the door 

Words "Quest" and "Shadow" are worst ones to use.
But I think that it's not the used words that count, but a thing name is applied to.

It would be nice, if name would give game a meaning, or describe something from game. Even better if this something isn't described in any other ways but by game name.

For example, my own game: "Henri: Don't drink & drive!"
While it sounds random at first, it will describe a witty happening in game. Henri, the protagonist - goes to a drag race with friends and before going, he drinks a bottle of cola. Other character jokes about drinking and driving, yet cola is not alcohol. But still problems happen: when arrived to a (illegal!) drag race, henri needs to take leak due cola, wanders into a forest and gets lost. During this, police arrives at the race and of course, racers run away. Now, when Henri comes back, he finds only police and loads of problems infront of him, which triggers a whole adventure (a game).

So the title has a meaning, though in a strange way.

[Snarky]

Didn't we have this exact same discussion before?

"Half life 2" - Weird name, popular title.

In a pure name-perspective, I think "half life" is very catchy. It's both a physical term and something that could pass as a description of a shortened lifetime. Or something like that. Not weird compared to many other names, anyway.

Some of my favourite game-titles (nevermind the quality of the games per see):

Loom
Fallout
Silent Hill
The Pandora Directive
Gladius
Phantasmagoria

Some examples of bad titles:

Deus Ex (don't know, just don't like it. The latin sounds pretentious)
Planescape: Torment (the words don't read out well together)
Heroes of might and magic (just dorky)
Final Fantasy (extremely corny title)
The longest journey (try to make it just a bit more bittersweet, can you?)

Funny, I think many of your favorite titles are pretty weak ("Loom", "Fallout", "The Pandora Directive", "Gladius"), while I'm a big fan of "Deus Ex", "Planescape: Torment" and "The Longest Journey". Different tastes, I suppose.

Some Good AGS Titles (culled from recent releases, or more precisely threads in the completed games forum):
Sydney Finds Employment
A Cure for the Common Cold
Duty and Beyond
The Death of Luke Simpson
Chicken VS. Road
Emerald Eyes

[Steel Drummer]

The only rule I can think of when naming titles is avoid generic, overused words.
EXAMPLES:
Quest, Night, Black, Shadow, Dark, Evil, Kingdom, Land, Lost, Legendary, Epic, Ancient, Legend, War, Battle, Prophecy, etc.

You know, typically, I won't even play a game if it has a title like 'Ancient Quest' or a generic sci-fi name. So a name really is important.

Good titles: 
Full Throttle
Day Of The Tentacle 
Kaptain Brawe: Brawe New World (it's a game I found on  AdventureDevelopers.com, I know the title is a bit corny, but a title with a play on words is always nice to see)
Secrets (it's simple, just one word)
Spooks (simple as well, has a double meaning in a way, because the game is set in sort of a 'spooky' world with ghosts, etc. and the main objective is about a character named Spooks)
Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! (the title is cartoony sounding and has a nice feel to it)
Just Another Point 'N Click Adventure (witty titles like this work great)
Duty And Beyond
Leisure Suit Larry
Da New Guys
The Greak Stroke Off
Super Jazz Man (the 'Super ____ Man thing is a bit overused, but the ____ part of this title is interesting)
Myst
Emily Enough
Halo

Bad Titles:
Lost Planet (generic)
Adventures Of Fatman (how many times have we heard a title like that before)
Space Quest
King's Quest
Police Quest 
God Of War 
Gears Of War
F.E.A.R. 

and finally, despite the fact I'm helping to make this game, nothing against esper...
Alpha X (it's a really general name that doesn't tell much about the game, and isn't really interesting). JpGames: Choose your title carefully. A good title could decide the outcome between people playing your game or not.

[Babar]

The only rule I can think of when naming titles is avoid generic, overused words.
EXAMPLES:
Quest, Night, Black, Shadow, Dark, Evil, Kingdom, Land, Lost, Legendary, Epic, Ancient, Legend, War, Battle, Prophecy, etc.

But then "The Ancient Quest for the Night of Black Shadow in the Epic Battle for the Dark Evil Kingdom of the Legendary Lost Land of Prophecy" would be an awesome name for a game. And see, it comes ready with a story!

Game names are annoying, because they technically don't have any relevance to the game. For Alien Time Zone, I had to think up some weird corny title that fit the story. It was the logical choice after "Rainbow Warp Adventure" and "The Timeless Journey"

[Snarky]

Epic Legends of the Hierarchs: The Elemenstor Saga?